Looks Like Someone Has a Sixpack of the Mondays

1. My "Monday" schedule has taken quite the beating over the last few weeks. Here's hoping you can enjoy these Sixpacks as they are brewed!

2. "The Redskins will be active in Free Agency." This news is...welcome. Bruce Allen will have money to spend and there will be some veterans available for him to spend money on that will constitute immediate upgrades for the Redskins. We all know the two areas that free agency can help us the most: the secondary and the offensive line. We will spend plenty of ink on the guys that we should target as well as the guys that may actually be interested in coming to town, but for right now, the prospect of Redskins One being gassed up and prepped for a flurry of flights warms my heart.

3. We will talk a lot about the kinds of players that can impact both our offense and defense, but perhaps the biggest improvement that our roster will see could be on special teams. Upgrades to the safety and cornerback position, as well as the injection of a youthful linebacker or two will pay huge dividends on special teams. Sure, we will hopefully see Jim Haslett's defense play at a higher level in 2014 thanks to adding the right mix of free agent veterans. If Allen and Haslett combine to convince the right guys to report to camp this summer though, it will be our special teams unit that could be the most drastically changed. Your impact special teams guys are defensive backs and linebackers, with the occasional third or fourth string wide receiver shining for teams around the league. Our depth at those defensive spots was terrible this past season and it showed where you would expect it to--special teams. (I guess it showed in other phases of the game for us as well...like the defensive back and linebacker phases.)

4. As much as I hate to admit it, there is just something...right...about the Washington Redskins being "active" in free agency. I would hate to relive some of the lunacy that went with the midnight signings of questionable players that our community argued over endlessly, but something deep inside of me yearns for the excitement that goes with being able to spend some dough on players that could legitimately come in and change our fortunes.

5. That's right: if we are competitive in 2014, it will be almost SOLELY because we signed the right batch of free agents. And it is soooooooo possible. Sure, we need to add at least two, hopefully three, starters in the draft, which is a tall order. Oh....and all this talk about the upgrades we need to make on defense will never overshadow the need we have for multiple new starters along the offensive line. The draft will be part of this, but it will be in free agency that the 2014 Redskins develop their best chance to add the necessary wins. And yes...saying this makes me shiver.

6. I know it is Super Bowl Week and we are all drinking in the pageantry, but today I am just one day closer to a triumphant 2014 Washington Redskins season. I can feel it. I hope that is what I am feeling--HogHunter and ih8 were spotted nearby.